Enclave people on hunger strike
People of 111 Indian enclaves yesterday started an indefinite hunger strike in Panchagarh to press home their three-point demand, including immediate implementation of the 1974 Indo-Bangla land boundary agreement.
The programme started at 4:00pm alongside the Dhaka-Panchagarh highway adjacent to Puthimari Indian enclave in Boda upazila.
They also demanded that the two governments ensure fundamental rights of the enclave people of both the sides and free movement with passports to perform religious rituals.
The leaders said they would continue pressing their demands until those are met. About 200 people, including women and children coming from different enclaves, are taking part in the fast.
The people are living in awful conditions in the enclaves amid lack of adequate employment opportunity, infrastructure, educational institutions, electricity, medical facilities and security, they added.
Leaders of the Bangladesh Chapter of India-Bangladesh Enclave Exchange Coordination Committee (IBEECC) declared the programme at a press conference in Panchagarh town on Saturday.
The speakers said they were frustrated at no timeframe mentioned for exchange of the enclaves during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Bangladesh in September last year, when a protocol was signed to implement the 1974 land boundary agreement, also known as Mujib-Indira accord.
Left-leaning political parties of India including CPI (M) and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), and human rights group APBRA extended their support to the programme, IBEECC Deputy General Secretary Diptiman Sengupta told The Daily Star.
Moinul Hossain, president of IBEECC's Bangladesh Chapter, General Secretary Golam Mostafa, enclave leaders Sirajul Islam, Mofidar Rahman and Bikash Roy also addressed the programme.
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